This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Groundwater and waste streams can be contaminated with volatile organic compounds (VOCs) which require removal in order to reuse or discharge the water. Air strippers which direct streams of air into a flowing stream of the contaminated water are used to transfer the VOCs from the water (aqueous phase) to the air stream (gaseous phase) which permits removal of the VOCs. Known air strippers include tower designs and stacked designs.
The phase change from the aqueous to the gaseous phase commonly results in mineral deposits, biologic fouling, and other precipitant deposits occurring at the water/air interface. Cleaning known air stripper designs is cumbersome and time consuming due to the necessary disassembly required and the size/weight of the components that must be removed to access the fouled components.